president Joe Biden joined the First Lady Jill Biden while welcoming Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska to the White House on Tuesday, two months after the two women met in Ukraine.
The President carried a bouquet of yellow sunflowers, blue hydrangeas and white orchids, which he presented to Zelenska. Blue and yellow are the national colors of Ukraine.
Jill Biden hugged her Ukrainian counterpart. Zelenska is on a tour of Washington DC to raise awareness of Ukraine’s humanitarian issues and was not accompanied by her husband, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. She met with Secretary of State Tony flash on Monday and will address members of Congress on Wednesday.
Zelenska was escorted by Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova. The four posed for a photo before heading inside. Biden put his arm around Zelenska to escort her to the White House.
Zelenksa makes a private visit to Washington DC to highlight the human cost of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
President Joe Biden, along with First Lady Jill Biden, welcomed Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska to the White House
President Biden presented Olena Zelenska with a bouquet of yellow, sunflowers, blue hydrangeas and white orchids – blue and yellow are the national colors of Ukraine
Jill Biden hugged Olena Zelenska
President Joe Biden put his arm around Olena Zelenska to escort her to the White House
When the two first ladies met, Jill Biden referenced their Mother’s Day meeting when she made a surprise visit to Ukraine during a trip to Eastern Europe.
“One of the things I said when I came back was that you can’t go to a war zone and come back and not feel the sadness and the pain,” she said.
During their meeting, the two first ladies will discuss “the continued support of the United States to the government of Ukraine and its people as they defend their democracy and deal with the significant human impact of the war in Russia that will be felt in the years to come . ‘ the East Wing said in a statement to the meeting.
Jill Biden hosted an expanded Bilat session with Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Assistant Administrator at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Isobel Coleman, Undersecretary for Political Affairs, Toria Nuland, and US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.
The topic was mental health.
“You introduced me to so many refugees, the mothers and children, and we spent some time with them. So I know you’re back with us to talk about mental health issues. And so I came back and spoke to my team – I believe you received my letter about what we are doing to help with the mental health of mothers and children who have truly suffered such tragedy and atrocity. So I worked on it. The team worked on it,” Jill Biden said in her opening statement
Jill Biden hosted a bilateral meeting on mental health issues with Olena Zelenska
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden greet Olena Zelenska, wife of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky (center left) and Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States Oksana Markarova (left) at the White House.
The foursome posed in front of the White House on the South Lawn
President Joe Biden holds flowers as he and Jill Biden wait for Olena Zelenksa to arrive at the White House
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff joined First Lady Jill Biden in her meeting with Olena Zelenska on mental health issues
Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska is visiting the United States to discuss humanitarian issues
Biden became the highest-profile member of the president Joe Biden‘s government to visit Ukraine when she made her secret visit there in May, where she sat down with her Ukrainian counterpart.
“I wanted to come on Mother’s Day. I felt it was important to show the Ukrainian people that this war must stop and that this war was brutal and that the people of the United States stand behind the people of Ukraine Ukraine,’ She said.
Jill Biden was in Slovakia when she made the detour across the border into Ukraine.
The visit was not announced for security reasons. The first lady traveled by vehicle to the town of Uzhhorod, about a 10-minute drive from a Slovak village that borders Ukraine. She spent about two hours in Ukraine.
After her visit, she called President Biden back from the drive to tell him “how much I see the need to support the people of Ukraine.”
She also said she told him about the “horrors and brutality that the people I met had experienced.”
In May, First Ladies visited a public school in Uzhgorod that serves as temporary housing and shelter for 163 displaced Ukrainians, including 47 children.
They joined children working on art projects for their mothers. The children made cardboard and tissue paper bears, which are the symbol of Zakarpattia Oblast.
Both women worked on making their own bears out of white and yellow tissue paper.
On Monday, Olena Zelenksa met Foreign Minister Tony Blinken at the Foreign Ministry
Jill Biden and Olena Zelenska, wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on May 8 in front of a public school in Uzhhoro
Jill Biden and Olena Zelenska join a group of kids to make tissue paper bears
Jill Biden and Olena Zelenska hug
Jill Biden spent about two hours on Mother’s Day in Ukraine, where she met Olena Zelenska and went to school
Olena Zelenska’s visit to the United States comes as the Russian invasion enters its sixth month.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said Blinken reassured Zelenska of the United States’ commitment to Ukraine when he met her Monday. Blinken also commended her for her work with civilians struggling with trauma and other damage of war.
Zelenska also met with Samantha Power, head of the US Agency for International Development, on Monday. Power’s agency has allocated billions of dollars to support the Ukrainian government and humanitarian needs, and is working to alleviate a global food shortage exacerbated by Russia’s war.
Russian missiles hit towns and villages in eastern and southern Ukraine on Tuesday as Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Tehran to meet Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
At least two civilians have been killed and 15 injured by Russian shelling across the country in the past 24 hours, Ukraine’s Presidential Office said.
In Odessa, at least four people were injured in an attack, houses were burned down and other houses were set on fire, said Oleksii Matsulevych, a spokesman for the regional administration.
Kyiv hopes the war is at a turning point as Moscow has exhausted its offensive capabilities in capturing a few small towns in the east, while Ukraine is now using long-range western weapons capable of striking behind Russian lines.
